This one Oura Ring setting was a game changer for me after I had my baby
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I write about fitness tech for a living, but for the first four months of my son's life, I took everything off. I was struggling with postpartum depression, and devices telling me how little I'd moved, slept, or recovered was the last thing I needed.
Women's Health Week
This article is part of Tom's Guide's Women's Health Week — a series of content that explores how technology and the right workouts can support and empower women through every phase of life.
Months later, when I finally felt strong enough to pop my Apple Watch and Oura Ring back on (an insignificant action to most, but a milestone to me), I leaned on a few features that really helped. I paused my rings on my Apple Watch, for example, removing the pressure to exercise on days when all I could do was sit on the sofa with my baby.
I also used enabled Rest Mode on my Oura Ring — read on to find out what it does, why I did it and how to use it.
According to Oura, Rest Mode allows you to 'focus on recovery when you feel tired, unwell, or need to slow down.' The Oura equivalent of pausing your Apple Watch rings, Rest Mode pauses your Activity Progress Goal, Activity Score and all activity-related contributors, allowing you to focus on rest. The Readiness and Sleep insights will also be adjusted to help you prioritize rest — something I wasn't getting with a newborn, but removing the pressure of not meeting activity goals helped.
Oura says Rest Mode is designed for when you're feeling under the weather, when you're injured, sick, or traveling.
If your Oura ring notices a spike in your average body temperature, you might get a notification that suggests switching to Rest Mode on your home screen. This is because the ring has noticed your body is under strain, and is suggesting that you should focus on recovery.
If, like I did, you're turning on Rest Mode when you're not sick, here's the steps you'll need to follow:
Go to the Menu in the top left corner of the Oura app home screen — the menu icon has three horizontal lines
From here, scroll down and select the Rest Mode icon
Then select Turn on Rest Mode
Once you have enabled Rest Mode, the data you see on your home screen will be different. At the bottom of your home screen, you'll be able to see that Rest Mode is enabled.
When you're feeling better, simply tap the notification banner at the bottom of the home screen, or go back to the Rest Mode setting on the sidebar and select 'Turn off and delete tags'.
It's worth noting that once you turn Rest Mode off, your Activity Goal and Score will slowly return to normal, taking into account the time you've been resting. I had Rest Mode on for a couple of months as I mentally recovered, so it took my ring a week to ease me back into my normal goals. During this period, I was still able to view my step count, active calories, and calorie burn if I wanted to, but I found the mental break from hitting fitness targets was what I needed.
Remember, these devices are designed to motivate you, not stress you out. If you're feeling overwhelmed, take them off, re-set, and remember that all movement is medicine, whether you're tracking it or not.
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